Men’s Basketball Falls to Top-Ranked Lancers

WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men's basketball team (11-4, 3-2 CL) opened 2026 with a conference road game at No. 1 Grace College (15-0, 5-0 CL) on Saturday, January 3.

The Lancers were red-hot in the first half as they shot 61.5% from the floor and hit 11 threes in the opening 20 minutes at a 68.8% clip. The excellent shooting display by the hosts was hard for MVNU to overcome in the first half as it went into the break trailing 57-28.

In the second half, MVNU's offense began to get going. The Cougars shot 63.2% from the field and hit six second half threes to get back into the game against the No. 1 team in the nation. MVNU chipped away, finding itself down 96-84 after a Bede Lori layup with 2:58 left. Peyton Heiss then drained a three with 2:16 left, cutting the Lancer advantage to single digits. MVNU then got a layup from Isaiah Brown to cap off the 5-0 run. With just 1:15 remaining in the game, the Cougars were only down by six points. The Lancers responded with a 4-0 run to go up 100-89 with 43 seconds remaining and would hold on to the lead the rest of the way. Despite the brilliant comeback effort, MVNU fell by a final score of 103-93 in the end.

For the game, Grace shot 55.6% from the field and 59.1% (13-22) from deep. MVNU was 50% from the floor and 8-23 (34.8%) from three. MVNU was great all day at sharing and taking care of the basketball, finishing with 19 assists to just nine turnovers. Brown led MVNU with 28 points on 10-15 shooting from the floor, 2-3 shooting from deep and 6-8 shooting from the line. Heiss was 7-13 from the floor, 3-7 from three and 6-7 from the line on his way to 23 points. Heiss had six rebounds and four assists. Abib Abib had 12 points on 5-7 shooting and three assists. Reed Platfoot and Lori had 11 points and 10 points, respectively.

Coach Ronai's Thoughts

"Really proud of our guys and their unbreakable spirit. Grace shot the ball really well from the perimeter in the first. Our guys continued to fight and made it a ball game the final five minutes. They're number one for a reason and I feel like our guys learned a lot in the 40 minutes today. We're focused on getting better on Monday."

What's Next

MVNU will host No. 10 Indiana Wesleyan University in Ariel Arena on Wednesday, January 7. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.

Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private, intentionally Christian teaching university for traditional age students, graduate students, and working adults. With a 327-acre main campus in Mount Vernon, Ohio, MVNU emphasizes academic excellence, spiritual growth, and service to community and church. MVNU offers an affordable education both in-seat and online to nearly 2,200 students from 36 states, 1 U.S. commonwealth and 41 foreign countries.